52% of Ms. GOP voters believe Obama a Muslim, poll finds

Where Mississippi Republicans are getting their facts is unclear, but it’s clear that the majority of them have their facts wrong.

Here’s the dirty lowdown: President Obama is not a Muslim.

Nonetheless, more than half of Mississippi’s Republicans voters believe he is a Muslim, even though he attended Christian churches for decades and has said time after time he is not a follower of Islam.

Mississippi’s inattention to facts, as least among Republicans, is borne out in a startling Public Policy Polling survey that is making huge headlines across the country: Only 12 percent of GOP voters in the Magnolia State think Obama’s a Christian to 52 percent who think he’s a Muslim and 36 percent who are not sure.

Neighboring Alabama’s inattention to facts is almost as startling: Just 14 percent of Alabamans think Obama’s a Christian to 45 percent who think he’s a Muslim and 41 percent who aren’t sure.

The 11-year-old Public Policy Polling, base in Raleigh, N.C., performs automated telephone surveys using Interactive Voice Response (IVR). It claims tp be able to track public opinion more often and on a wider range of issues than by interviewing in-person or via phone, or by mail-in surveys.

The PPP polling shows Mississippi Republicans still have much fondness for two high-profile conservatives despite controversial actions each has taken recently: radio gabber Rush Limbaugh and former Gov. Haley Barbour.

Limbaugh is viewed favorably by 51 percent of Mississippi GOP voters despite three days of verbal attacks he launched against a Georgetown University co-ed over the contraceptives issue, calling her a “slut” and a “prostitute” who should have to perform sex acts on the Internet for his enjoyment. Forty-seven percent of the respondents to the Limbaugh question were women voters, according to Public Policy Polling.

Barbour is viewed favorably by 64 percent of Mississippi Republicans despite 62 percent of them viewing with disfavor his pardon of more than 200 inmates upon leaving office, including a number of convicted murderers.

The vast majority of Mississippi Republicans, 66 percent, do not believe in evolution. Twenty-two percent do believe in evolution while 11 percent are not sure.

Only a slight majority of Mississippi’s GOP voters, 54 percent, think interracial marriage should be legal. Twenty-nine percent say such marriages should be illegal and 17 percent are still trying to make up their minds on the issue, according to Public Policy Polling.

Both Mississippi and Alabama go to the polls Tuesday for the GOP’s presidential preference primary. Here’s what PPP had to say at mid-day Monday about Tuesday’s voting:

“Tuesday looks like it’s going to be a close election night in both Mississippi and Alabama. In Mississippi Newt Gingrich is holding on to a slight lead with 33 percent to 31 percent for Mitt Romney, 27 percent for Rick Santorum, and 7 percent for Ron Paul. And Alabama is even closer with Romney at 31 percent to 30 percent for Gingrich, 29 percent for Santorum, and 8 percent for Paul.

“Gingrich and Santorum are both more popular than Romney in each of these states. In Mississippi Gingrich’s net favorability is +33 (62/29) to +32 for Santorum (60/28) and +10 for Romney (51/41). It’s a similar story in Alabama where Santorum’s at +32 (63/31), Gingrich is at +26 (58/32), and Romney’s at only +13 (53/40).”

One comment

While Wally Northway has not lied in this posting, he has selectively omitted relevant facts and given the reader a calculated and misleading portrayal. It’s dishonest reporting. Certainly it appears that Wally is a Democrat with an agenda and on a mission to not only cast Republicans in an unfavorable light but to also perpetuate unflattering and blatantly biased stereotypes about the citizens of Mississippi – to which I take exception.

As a business person who has entertained, on numerous occasions, the editors of the Mississippi Business Journal in my home,I must say,I’m rather surprised that Wally Northway was allowed a forum for such fodder. How in the world did this get past the editorial staff? Was someone napping?

Here are the additional relevant facts: The company who conducted the survey only uses a computer to robocall and only allows for automated responses. Therefore, when the surveyee” is called there is no way possible for “PPP” of North Carolina to know if the “surveyee” is really an adult, a voter, or a 4 year old child. To do a statistical sampling you need a controlled census. You don’t have one here.

The survey was conducted in the last days preceding the election. I received over 50 robocalls during the last three days and my neighbor received 59 (she actually counted). What do you think the chances are for a statistically accurate result given this unusually high level of voter irritation? Then, compound it with the fact that a computer is calling from an unknown destination and questions that were specifically designed to elicit a negative response. Yes, the questions were slanted.

Even MSNBC and CNN reporters and commentators have voiced serious doubts about the legitimacy of this survey because of the way in which it was conducted. The commentator on MSNBC specifically addressed the negative tone of the way in which the questions were asked and was therefore, dismissive of the entire poll. Shocking, considering that most commentators on this channel would love to use any material which makes Republicans look badly. Yet, not even MSNBC would touch it.

So why then, does it end up in the Mississippi Business Journal? Who is the editor that approved this? We want to know.

Since CNN and MSNBC have raised the questions, where is the reporting on who actually owns PPP in North Carolina and who paid for this survey? What was THEIR motivation? Since the questions were so obviously slanted, wouldn’t it be common sense for a reporter to ask these questions? Since it is so obvious that there is a company in North Carolina who has been commissioned to cast Mississippians in an unfavorable light, wouldn’t THAT BE OF INTEREST to the Mississippi Business Journal? I’m a Mississippi business person and I surely would like to know.

What was that you said? All I can hear are the crickets.

Again, we are tired of the half-truths and lack of proper investigation when reporting. The audience who reads the Mississippi Business Journal does so to keep abreast of the Mississippi Business environment and we use this information to make decisions for our companies and our employees. Don’t insult us by wasting our time. If the Mississippi Business Journal is “farming out” it’s reporting to bloggers with an agenda, who subjectively select the facts they report to further their own ideology, then the business community within the state will no longer rely on the journal for accurate information. If the staff editor chose to run this story without checking facts then they are incompetent and The Journal becomes unreliable. If a staff editor chose to run this story because of their own political ideology, then shame has been brought to The Journal.

The Mississippi Business Journal becomes an untrusted source of information. That’s bad for business. Your’s and our’s.

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